27 April 2011: Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor

Provincetown Theater Company, Provincetown, Massachusetts. Directed by Anthony Jackman

On holiday for a few days in Wellfleet, we thought the prospect of seeing a play at the Provincetown Theater seemed irresistible. We booked the Wednesday night and arrived, down a road under repair, expecting a good production without really thinking much about it, but with the long reputation of the Provincetown in mind. The theatre of Eugene O’Neill, after all, how could it be anything other than fine?

It could, in fact, be very much other than fine. Actors who could not act and hardly knew their lines, a setting with moveable flats, some with doors, but representing nary a place, though the flats kept moving, a director who could do nothing with the almost total lack of talent. This was strictly amateur stuff, we discovered, and left at intermission, much disillusioned.